The Youngest Lyoko Warrior
by Cyanide 6
Summary: When XANA attacks the Lyoko warriors, he makes an unexpected move.  Now the Lyoko warriors have to deal with someone who has been caught up in all their troubles. Just a random idea I had. Please no flames.  R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Jeremie stared at the screen. This made no sense. According to the readings on the screen, X.A.N.A. had created a scanner, somewhere far outside the factory.

At that moment, the elevator opened behind him, and Yumi stepped in.

"Do they need help on Lyoko?"

"No, actually. They're managing just fine. I have another job for you." He pointed at the screen. "See here? This shows that X.A.N.A. has created a new scanner that has direct access to Lyoko."

"You think he's going to materialize some monsters?"

"Could be. I need you to go there, now. Make sure the area is safe."

Yumi nodded, and Jeremie programmed some directions into her phone.

"Good luck!" Jeremie called.

"Same to you and the others!"

Yumi exited the elevator. Grabbing her skateboard, she quickly made her way. It was a good thing she was a fast skateboarder, she had a lot of ground to travel.

Though not as stylishly as Odd would have, she arrived at the location the scanner was within fifteen minutes.

"Yumi," Jeremie's voice rang out on the earpiece that was connected to Yumi's phone, "X.A.N.A's starting up the scanner, make sure that everyone stays clear. Oh, my readings also report that the scanner isn't in the form of a regular scanner, but is somehow disguised to fit in with the surroundings."

"Gotcha Jeremie," Yumi said. She looked up to find herself at her destination. A supermarket parking lot.

Around her mothers with their children milled about. "You are evil, X.A.N.A." Yumi whispered to herself. "Attacking a place filled with so many innocents."

Back on Lyoko, the monsters kept coming. But nothing too hard, just legions of kankrelats.

Aelita manipulated, Odd fired, and Ulrich's copies attacked while Ulrich blocked the shots aimed at Aelita.

Yumi ran around the store, before she got a message that it was not in the actual building.

Yumi left, looking around. Nothing near her resembled a scanner. Mothers pushed shopping carts, a little Chinese boy begged his mother to buy him caramel ice-cream, an Arabic couple put their young daughter on a mini carousel.

"Excuse me!" Yumi called out to an employee, who was taking a break. "Excuse me, but could you tell me what here is-" Yumi struggled for the words "new?"

It was the only way she could think of finding the scanner. If Jeremie's computer hadn't picked up on it sooner, then it meant the disguised scanner was newer to the establishment.

The employee took it the wrong way. "Well, we have a new shipment of tilapia, and some great new apples. We've just subscribed to this new farm and-"

"No, I mean like, things."

He stared at her.

"Never mind," Yumi said.

Then she heard a gasp.

Yumi whipped around to find herself watching the mother of the girl on the carousel. The little girl, who looked about two, had been riding around, when all off the sudden, walls began descending from the top of the carousel.

"NO!" Yumi and the mother cried at the exact same time. The little girl's eyes widened with shock, before the walls closed completely.

There was a whirring, mechanical sound, and then the walls retracted.

The little girl was gone.

On Lyoko Odd was flipping around, taking out the last of the kankrelats.

Aelita headed for the tower.

Ulrich had just been devirtualized.

Suddenly, an outline appeared in the sky, indicating a new arrival.

"Thanks for the help Einstein," Odd called, assuming Jeremie had sent Yumi in, "but as you can see, we're all set here."

"What are you talking about, Odd?" Jeremie's voice rang out.

Odd looked back at the figure being virtualized. Odd could see that is was not Yumi.

The figure landed on the ground. She looked like an Arabian princess, with long ribbons tied around each arm. She looked up at Odd, and he ran closer. Up close he could see that she was little, no older than two.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita's voice rang out.

"Uh, Jeremie," Odd yelled, as the little girl began to whimper. "We have a problem."

Back on Earth, the Lyoko Warriors looked down at the crying girl.

Jeremie had materialized her, but the damage was done. "What are we going to go with her?" Yumi asked.

"What's wrong with returning her home?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremie and Aelita exchanged worried glances. "She's been scanned," Jeremie said. "She knows about Lyoko, the factory, and our identities."

Aelita bent down and picked up the distraught toddler. "Don't worry, don't worry," she whispered soothingly. "Everything's going to be alright, alright." The little girl stopped crying slightly, and contented herself to whimpering sadly. "I'm taking her outside. She could use some fresh air."

Outside, Aelita took her on a walk. "Poor baby," she said. "Poor little girl. Don't worry, we'll find out everything." She texted Jeremie, telling him to call her when they had reached a decision, and then took the girl on a walk through the town.

Back in the factory, Ulrich shook his head. "Look, she's what, two! There's no way she'll say anything. We'll just bring her home, and she'll think it was a bad dream."

"She's not stupid, Ulrich," Jeremie said.

"Well, what's she gonna do?" Odd said. "I think we should send her back."

Ulrich and Yumi seconded him. Jeremie hesitated. "Alright, I'll run a return trip. She'll come to at home, think it was a bad dream, and then forget all about it."

Back in the town, Aelita was showing the girl around town. "My your precocious! Aren't you!"

A white light flashed, and everything reverted.

But not all was well. The little girl may have been in shock when by the others, but once she was back at home, she cried nonstop.

Her parents, worried, brought her to the doctor a few towns over, into the same town the Lyoko Warriors lived in.

The doctors had suggested that something was bothering their daughter, and that they should try and find out.

So they let their daughter down, and, having a memory like an elephant, she led them straight to the factory.

The parents followed her into the elevator, and found the Lyoko Warriors at the computer.

Soon the place was swarming with cops, so Jeremie ran a return trip, and further guarded the factory.

But now, she had even further experience, and it took her quicker to alert the authorities to their hideout.

Four more times, return trips were run, and each time they were found out, each time quicker than the last.

Aelita suggested changing doctors, but by the time they tried that, the little girl was already so knowledgeable about the factories location, that the authorities were there within hours of the latest return trip.

Jeremie even tried getting them to move away, but they were still found out.

"Of all the little kids to accidentally scan," Odd wailed, "we get the one with parents who would follow her to the end of the Earth, and the most precocious kid on Earth."

The group was sitting in the factory, after a new return trip.

"What do we do, Einstein?" Yumi asked Jeremie.

He looked up at her. "Here's the conclusion I've come to. You're not going to like it, so let me have my say before you all jump down my throat." He took a deep breath. "She will not, ever forget, and we can't return time any further than we already have, so each time we rewind time, she'll just drag her parents and the authorities to the factory. So, we can't return her to her parents."

There was a slightly stunned silence. "What are you suggesting, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie looked at them. "We have no option. She can't stay with her parents, or anyone else who would report us to the authorities."

A very long pause followed this.

Then,

"You're saying you want to kidnap her," Yumi said.

Jeremie's eyes welled with tears. "No! More than anything no! The last thing I want is for anyone's family to be torn apart! I would never ever ever want that!" He took a deep breath. "I'm not saying I want to do that. I'm saying we have to."


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

Yumi gave a deep sigh. Why was it that she would have to be the one to kidnap the little girl? She shook her head. "Guys, you'd better hurry! They'll be here any minute!"

Jeremie and Aelita were busy planning how to swap the little girl with her clone in a quick and efficient way. She would show up with her parents soon, and Jeremie was willing to let one more return-trip go by. Once she showed up with the authorities, he'd initiate a return-trip, and then Yumi would strike.

Aelita's phone rang. "Hey Odd, are they here?" She listened for a minute. "Alright Jeremie, they're here."

Jeremie looked seriously up at Yumi. "Are you ready? After this, we won't have much time. You're going to have to pick up her clone, and quickly bring her to their house. As soon as they leave the little girl alone, you kidnap her, and put the clone in her place."

"You realize how evil this is, right?"

Jeremie didn't answer. He hit the button on his keyboard. "Return to the past, now!"

.

Yumi hopped out of her bed, pulling on the concealing outfit that would make sure she went unidentifiable. She quickly left her house, and ran through the early morning streets, until she arrived at the factory.

Once there, she met up with Aelita, who was holding the sleeping clone. "Shh," Aelita whispered. "Here, Jeremie's modified her memory, to assure that she has no memory of us or anything."

Yumi accepted her in her arms. "Why can't Jeremie just modify the real girl's memory?"

"She's not a program. This one is. Jeremie and I are working on a program to make this one more… real. Our intended result is to completely severe her ties to the supercomputer, so that she can live her life completely free."

Yumi nodded. "This feels so wrong."

Aelita sighed. "I know. Now go! You're already running out of time."

Yumi ran, sleeping clone in arms. She had Jeremie's guarantee that she would stay asleep until Yumi contacted him.

Through the silent streets she ran, getting a few strange looks from the few people who were awake.

Yumi ran for nearly an hour, until she reached their house, a few towns over.

Outside, she could hear crying out of an open window, in the one story house.

"If she doesn't quiet in a few more minutes, I'm calling the doctor," a worried woman's voice rang out.

"I don't understand, she doesn't seem to be sick, but she's been crying for over an hour!" A man's voice said, sounding tired and worried.

A few minutes later, the woman went off to call the doctor.

_It's now or never, _Yumi told herself.

Quickly, she banged on the door.

"Who is it?" The man's voice rang out.

Again, Yumi banged harshly, to create the effect that someone was trying to get in.

Just as Yumi had hoped, the father put his crying daughter down in her bed and went worriedly to the door.

The girl was now alone in her room.

Yumi ran to the window, and climbed through, her heart racing triple speed. She put the sleeping clone down, and picked up the real girl, who began screaming.

Knowing that the father would be there soon, Yumi did what she had hoped she wouldn't have to. Placing her fingers underneath the crying girl's ears, Yumi applied pressure. The effect was immediate, as she fell unconscious.

Yumi bolted, diving out the window, just as the parents returned.

"-I heard banging at the door, and when I left she started screaming," he said. "Why isn't she crying now?"

Yumi held her breath in the bushes below the window.

"She's asleep," the woman said, relieved. Yumi heard the couple whisper a little more, before slipping away from the house.

When she was a mile away, she texted Jeremie: _Target acquired, you can wake her now_

A mile away, Yumi knew that a young couple was holding their daughter in their arms, as she blinked off her sleep, unaware that she was not their daughter at all, but a clone of the girl Yumi now made away with, a girl they would likely never see again.

.

"What do we do with her?" Ulrich asked, holding their small captive. Aelita was busy comforting Yumi, who was shaking.

"It's fine, it's alright! You did what you had to do, to save the world."

Yumi was in a bit of shock after her kidnap mission.

"Yeah Einstein," Odd said, frowning. "I mean, now that we have this little kid to care after, what are we gonna do with her."

"Are we gonna bring her to an orphanage?" Ulrich asked. "Or, you know, send her to some foster family?"

Jeremie sighed. "That wouldn't work. This isn't the nineteenth century, you can't just drop a two-year-old off at an orphanage, no questions asked. If we do that, the next thing you know, her picture will be on every news center, and then where will we be?"

"So," said Odd, "what? Do we change how she looks?"

Aelita frowned. "What? Plastic surgery on a toddler?"

They were silent. Then Yumi said, "I know where you're going with this. You want to keep her."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Jeremie snapped. "I don't want to do any of this. It's a matter of what I **need** to do, not what I **want **to do!"

"But how are we supposed to keep her?" Ulrich asked "I mean, she's not Kiwi! We can't just hide her in Odd's bottom drawer!"

"We could keep her here?" Jeremie suggested.

"Where?" Yumi said. "Put a few cushions in a scanner?"

Jeremie threw his hands in the air. "Fine, your right, I'm wrong! You know what? I'm tired of making the unpopular decisions! You figure out what to do! I'm going to start my work on separating the clone from Lyoko, **you **deal with this one!"

Jeremie's yelling had woken her up, and Aelita instantly picked her up. "There there," she whispered. "No crying, come on." Aelita began bouncing her slightly.

Yumi took a deep breath. "He's right," she said to the others. "We can't expect him to make all the decisions if we're capable of making them ourselves. We can do this, it'll be hard, but we can! Jeremie," she turned to Jeremie, who was typing angrily on the computer, "can you fidget with our class schedules? If we can fix it, so that one of us always, or nearly always, has a break every period, then someone can always keep an eye on her."

Jeremie glanced up. "I can do that, but it'll require a few days."

Yumi nodded. "That should do for now. Odd," she turned to Odd, "I know that your parents give you a lot of money, could you buy her basic necessities?"

"Clothes, food, bed with guard rail, that kind of thing?" He asked.

Yumi nodded. "Ulrich, you and I need to work on making this place livable. We need to find a place for her that's close to the lab, but out of the way."

Ulrich glanced around, before pointing. "Up there. You know, the hallway that leads here, when we don't use the elevator? We could set that room up, block up the exit that leads to the rest of the factory, so that it's only accessible via the elevator. It's not huge, but it should suffice."

Yumi studied the room. "We need a ladder to enter it, what if she falls?"

"Can't we block it up with those security rails that people put at the bottom of the stairs to keep their little kids from climbing up?"

Yumi nodded. "Alright, you can be in charge of jamming the door that leads there, so that it's only accessible from here. Aelita, you're going to be in charge of her." Yumi smiled. "You seemed to have gotten her to stop crying."

Aelita smiled. "I think she likes me."

"What about a name?" Odd asked. "We can't keep calling her 'the little baby'."

"We need to find out her real name," Yumi said.

Jeremie shook his head. "Too risky. Her parents live to close to here, if a relative or friend sees a girl who looks exactly like their friend's daughter, with the same name, they'll get suspicious. We should keep it simple. She can have a number or a code."

"Like Lyoko 1?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah!" Jeremie said.

Aelita looked horrified. "She's a **baby **not a program for heaven's sake! She needs a real name, not some code!"

Jeremie frowned. "Fine, what do you suggest?"

"No need to get huffy, Einstein," Odd said. "It's just an awful idea. Ooh I know! She can be… Lyoka!"

"Lyoka?" Yumi echoed. "No way! That's way too confusing!"

"Alright… Ooh, ooh, I know, she can be Xana! It's a pretty name-"

"If it wasn't the name of a world hating AI!" Jeremie said.

"Come on, Odd, be serious," Ulrich said.

"Fine," he said. "El-Jay. It's pretty and unique, so no one will ever get it confused with anything else."

There was a pause.

"I like it, actually," Aelita said.

"Me too," Yumi said.

Ulrich nodded, "Works for me."

"Alright," Jeremie said. "El-Jay it is!"

"Cool," said Odd. "Now, down to business. Ulrich's gonna start fixing up her room. Einstein is working on Einsteiny things, Aelita's gonna take care of her." As if on cue, she started crying. "What's wrong with her?" Odd asked, alarmed.

"She's probably hungry," Aelita said. "I doubt she's had any breakfast."

"Speaking of breakfast," Odd groaned.

Aelita sighed. "Yumi, you have to pop your head in at home, so your family doesn't get worried. It's a Sunday, so they shouldn't worry too much. Odd, you need to buy food for El-Jay. Then you can eat."

Yumi and Odd hopped in the elevator. "You know Odd, her name kind of sounds like the letters L and J."

Odd looked sheepish. "That's kinda what I modeled it after. It's kinda an acronym."

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "What's it stand for?"

"Lyoko Junior."

.

**Well, I hope you review on this new chapter. I hope the location for El-Jay's room isn't too hard to understand, but it's the room they go through when they don't use the elevator. Thanks to Skamikaze, who suggested the idea of using a clone. I'm hoping this chapter seems less rushed. Again, please PLEASE review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Odd showed up at the local grocery store.

"Hey!" He asked one of the employees. "Where's all the baby stuff?"

She frowned. "Baby stuff? Like infant food?"

"No, like what a two-year-old should eat. Like, ya know, what things we should give her?"

She smiled at Odd. "Well, what were you told to buy? Just food, or was your mother more specific?"

"Ah, no. My mom doesn't know about her."

There was a pause, as the employee's eyebrows went way up.

"Why don't you look it up? I'm hardly an expert in the area, I work at a grocery store, for crying out loud!"

She stalked off, huffily.

Odd frowned, wondering what was with her attitude. He shrugged, and called Aelita.

"Hey, princess," he whispered. "You know El-Jay best, what kinda food should I buy for her."

On the other end, Aelita was faced with the problem of a lack of bathrooms in the factory. "I don't know, Odd!" She said, trying to bring El-Jay to the nearest store bathroom before it was too late. "Just buy what you would eat, can't go wrong there! Oh hush hush," she began whispering to El-Jay.

The line went dead.

"What I would eat?"

.

Yumi ran all the way home. "Hey Mom, hey Dad, I'm gonna be out of the house most of the day, hope you don't mind, see you at dinner!" She called in the living room where her parents were talking.

Yumi turned and headed back toward the factory.

.

Aelita sighed, standing in the middle of a gas station bathroom. She had been just a few seconds too late, and now she was in a bit of a bind.

"Hey Odd," she said, calling him. "I need you to pick up one complete change of clothes for El-Jay."

Odd, who was in the process of checking out several packages of frozen deep fried foods paused.

"No way! I am eating when I am done here. Get Yumi to do it!" Odd hung up, stomach grumbling.

Aelita sighed, frustrated. "Yumi!" She said, dialing her friend's number. "I need you to pick up a complete change of clothes for El-Jay. We had a, um, well, a bit of an 'accident' here."

"Right," Yumi's voice came over. "I'll be right on that."

.

Yumi, who had been in the elevator, heading to help Ulrich, hit the up button, and once she left the factory, she headed for a local clothes store.

"Um, hey," she said to one of the salesclerks, "I'm looking for where you might sell toddler clothes? For a two-year-old."

The salesclerk directed her to the small section, where Yumi quickly picked out an outfit.

It was fairly cheap, but Yumi didn't have enough money on her to buy anything else.

After checking out, Yumi called Aelita.

"Yes?" Aelita's harassed voice came in on the other end. Yumi could hear El-Jay's shrieks in the background, and Yumi knew Aelita didn't want too much attention on her.

"I've got the clothes, where do you want me to meet you?"

Aelita quickly gave her the address of the gas station she and El-Jay were holding up fort in.

"Right, I'll be there soon."

.

In the factory, Odd quickly deposited the food and bolted, heading for the cafeteria with the hopes that they'd still be serving breakfast.

Ulrich entered the lab. He had spent the whole morning stacking large pieces of scrap metal up against the outside of the door. He was exhausted after doing all his work without breakfast.

"Wow!" He said, noticing the bag Odd had left. "Not used to Odd being generous." Ulrich pulled out a box of frozen mozzarella sticks. He sighed. "Well, at least his heart's in the right place."

Jeremie glanced up from his computer. Frowning, he rushed over and began rifling through it.

"No, no, no! We can't feed a toddler this! She's go into cardiac arrest!"

Ulrich frowned down at the food. "Well, I'm not going to pick up more food, if I go any longer without food, I'm gonna pass out!"

Jeremie sighed. "You and Odd are eating, and the girls are taking care of El-Jay. _I_ can't run out and get more food, so who will?"

"I bet Yumi can. She's just giving Aelita a helping hand, she can run out and buy something."

He texted Yumi to buy some food fit for a toddler.

She texted back that she had no money.

Ulrich texted her to borrow some from Aelita.

She texted back saying that she just got a message from her parents, telling her to go home, ASAP.

Ulrich conveyed the messages to Jeremie.

"Right. Alright. You go to breakfast, and tell Odd to head here. I'll text Aelita to drop El-Jay off here, and she can go buy food. Got it?"

Ulrich nodded. "I'm on it Jeremie."

.

Aelita met up at the factory. "Odd!" She called out, as he climbed out of the sewers.

"Hey!" He walked over. "What's up? Ulrich told me that Jeremie wanted me to meet you here."

"Yeah, he's, um, not thrilled with your food choices, and is sending me off to pick up more, ah, toddler friendly food."

Odd frowned. "Hey, you told me to get what I would eat." She smiled, wryly. "My mistake. Here." She handed the squirmy, and by now, very hungry, toddler to Odd.

Odd stared, worriedly, at her outstretched arms. "What, you don't want _me_ to look after her, do you?"

"Yumi's at home, Ulrich's at lunch, Jeremie's on the supercomputer, and thanks to _you_, I need to buy more food. I think El-Jay is your responsibility now."

Odd gingerly held the two year old. "Oof! Hey, she's heavy! And squirmy! And what do I do if she starts crying?"

Aelita began to run off in the direction of the local store. "Just jiggle her!"

Jiggle her? Odd had no idea how to jiggle her, being the youngest of six, he never had any interaction with little kids.

El-Jay was mad. She had been taken from her concerned parents, and forced into the care of five, inexperienced teens, who were terrified of her.

She was hungry, confused, uncomfortable in her new clothes, tired from crying all night, and she let it out on unsuspecting Odd.

Odd stood on the bridge, rapidly shaking the screaming and howling toddler, awaiting Aelita's return, which couldn't come fast enough.

**Hope you review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

Aelita returned, to find Odd sitting on the ground, El-Jay screaming in his arms.

She sighed. "Bring her to the factory," she ordered.

Odd groaned. "My arms hurt! She's heavy!"

Sighing again, she handed Odd the four bags of food, and scooped up El-Jay, who began screaming and thrashing in her arms.

"Let's get her to the factory."

The two quickly made their way in.

Jeremie glanced up in alarm, as the two came in, El-Jay wailing.

"What are you doing to her?"

"She's hungry," Aelita explained.

Jeremie got up, and helped Odd rummage through the bags.

Odd quickly pulled out a banana, a cheese stick, and a jar of applesauce.

Aelita sat down, El-Jay on her lap, while Jeremie pulled out a small paper bowl and plastic spoon. "Odd, cut up the banana," he ordered, as he poured the applesauce into the bowl.

"Come on, open up," he coaxed, holding the spoon in front of her mouth. She opened it, most likely to scream in his face, but quickly descended into a fit of coughing as Jeremie shoved the spoon in her mouth.

_Cough cough cough_. She swallowed, and was about to start crying, when he got another in her mouth. She swallowed this as well, and when she finished, she looked up at him, sadly, hiccupping slightly, but no longer crying.

El-Jay finished the applesauce, half a cut up banana, and some cut up cheese.

Jeremie poured her a cup of water, which she reached out for.

"Jeremie, no!" Aelita said, as he handed it over, only to have El-Jay dump it on her head.

Covered in water, she began laughing, happy at being all wet. Aelita sighed. "El-Jay! I just changed your outfit!" She looked up at the shocked looking Jeremie.

"Why did she do that?" He asked.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Who knows? But we **do** have a problem. There's no bathroom here, how are we gonna have her use the bathroom? She's just two, barely potty trained, we can't expect her to know to use a gas station bathroom every time."

Jeremie frowned. "Actually, Ulrich had thought of that. He wondered about buying some kinda portable toilet. He's already found one for only about 60 euros." Jeremie glanced up at the others.

Odd frowned. "Who would clean it?"

"Well, Odd, unless you're willing to pay to install plumbing, you're gonna have to pitch in."

Odd groaned.

Aelita nodded. "Works for me." She smiled down at El-Jay, who was playing with a plastic spoon. She looked up at Aelita, bright brown eyes furrowed.

"Mommy?"

The three exchanged a quick glance. Aelita bit her lip, as El-Jay repeated her demand.

"Aelita," Jeremie said, "why don't you take her out? See if you can't distract her."

Aelita nodded, taking the two-year-olds hand, and led her from the lab.

Odd and Jeremie exchanged glances. "Poor El-Jay," Odd said.

"I know," Jeremie replied, "I know."

.

"Come on, El-Jay! Let's go to the park!" Aelita suggested.

"No!" Was the stubborn reply.

"Come on," Aelita coaxed.

"NO!"

Sighing, Aelita picked up the wriggling toddler.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!"

"Come on!" Aelita said, as she headed toward the park.

By the time they got there, El-Jay had started to cry. "Mommy!" She wailed.

"Um, look! A, uh, slide! Wanna go on the slide!"

El-Jay stomped her foot.

Aelita sighed. "Alright! Up you go!" Aelita lifted the struggling El-Jay into a little kid swing.

"And up and down, and up and down!" Aelita cooed, as she pushed the swing.

El-Jay quieted, distracted by the fascination the swing provided. Soon she was shrieking happily, as she ordered Aelita to push her higher.

.

Yumi arrived at the factory.

"Yumi!" Ulrich called. "Hey, we need your help. See, the thing is, No one can get to El-Jay's room, except through the lab, but I still want to drill it shut. Later I can wallpaper, or paint, over it, but right now, I need the tools to drill with. Odd also needs help shopping. I still need to clear out her room, just because, the door's jammed up, doesn't mean it's much of a room. I also need cubicle partitions, for the bathroom. They're a bit pricey, but they're also necessary."

Yumi nodded. "I'll head out with Odd."

The two headed out to the mall. The two needed to pick up a bed and guard rail at the furniture store.

"You do realize how expensive this is gonna be, right?" Odd asked Yumi.

She shrugged. "Well, we can get a used frame. But not a mattress. If the mattress is used, then it'll be full of bugs, and who knows what else. We're also gonna need a bed rail, so she doesn't role out. That's all for here."

Odd nodded.

The two were able to make their purchases for 180 Euros.

Odd blinked at the bed, mattress, and bed rail. "Well now what?"

So for the rest of the morning, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi toted El-Jay's new bed back to the factory.

Then it was lunch for everyone but Aelita, who was busy with El-Jay at the park, and Jeremie, who opted out in favor of working.

Afterward, Odd and Yumi bought tool for Ulrich, sheets and blankets for El-Jay, a space heater, as the Spring nights still got cold, and while Jeremie never minded working in the chilly factory, no one wanted their little girl cold at night.

After that, more clothes and food were bought, along with a sippy cup, and other dishes. Then Yumi bought a few dolls and some books for her entertainment, and a baby monitor, just in case they ever had to leave her.

The they headed back to the factory, where they set up and made the bed, and put up the rail.

"I'm exhausted!" Odd whined.

All admitted their exhaustion, save Jeremie, who was only doing what he normally did. Actually, reprogramming school classes was far easier than other things, and he was actually feeling relaxed.

"Alright!" Said Jeremie. "Who's staying with El-Jay?"

There was a brief pause.

"Well," Ulrich said, "aren't you gonna stay here and work? Why do one of us have to stay?"

"I'm not here to babysit, I'm here to work. And if she wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming, then I'll be babysitting, and not working."

There was a short pause. "I'll stay," Aelita volunteered.

"Okay," said Yumi. "Where's she now?"

"Sleeping," Aelita said, smiling. "She was wiped out after the park. Heck, I'm wiped out! We played all day! Tag, hide and seek, you name it."

"Well, then," said Odd. "If she's sleeping, then we can all go-"

"Eat?" The others cut him off.

Odd grinned. "Aw, you guys know me too well."

**Review, please!**


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Aelita sat on the edge of El-Jay's bed, the toddler in her arms. El-Jay didn't want to sleep, she would cry whenever she was put down.

Aelita jiggled the two-year-old on her lap, singing a quiet song to her that Anthea had sung to Aelita herself, years ago. One Anthea had made up.

"_Quiet darling, don't you cry,_

_Tonight I sing you a lullaby._

_Now the sky is dark and bleak_

_But tomorrow morning the sun will peak._

_So hush, my El-Jay, close your eyes,_

_While I sing you my sweet lullabies._

She smiled, as El-Jay sleepily blinked her eyes.

Despite having an exhausting day, it wasn't until 12:13 that she fell asleep.

Aelita put her in her bed carefully, pulled the blanket over her, and pulled the safety rail up.

"Hey," she whispered to Jeremie, who was busy fixing their schedules.

"Is she asleep?" Jeremie asked.

Aelita nodded.

Jeremie breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought she'd never fall asleep." He gestured at the screen. "I've fidgeted with our schedules. You've got a break first period. Then Odd has break for second. Then Yumi. Then it's lunch, so we can juggle that around. Afterward, Ulrich has break. After that we have gym, which we can take turns skipping, and for last period I have break."

Aelita nodded, smiling. "Good, that means I get El-Jay first!" She exclaimed, quietly, smiling.

Jeremie raised an eyebrow. "You're looking forward to this?"

Aelita frowned. "One, yes. Two, you are not to treat her like a chore. Can you imagine what that would do to her? We've already ruined her life, let's not make it worse."

Jeremie nodded, a tired look in his eyes. "I'll try. But really, Aelita, I feel like we're a bunch of teenagers playing house in an old factory. You do realize that this is gonna determine our lives as much as Lyoko, right?"

Aelita shrugged. "I guess that's one reason why it doesn't affect me as much as you guys. I never had a life before Lyoko. All I have are vague memories, and I've accepted that I can never go back to that. I have a much more open mind when it comes to things changing my life."

Jeremie nodded, as he turned back to the supercomputer. "Aelita, I had actually meant to ask you your opinion on this," he said, as the conversation turned to Lyoko and X.A.N.A.

.

The next morning, Yumi was up early, bringing lunch for Aelita to the factory.

She got to the factory, and, upon entering the lab, was greeted to crying.

Jeremie and Aelita were yelling at each other, and El-Jay was soaked.

"Why do you keep giving her cups of water?" Aelita yelled. "It took me fifteen bloody minutes to get that outfit on her, why would you give her something that would make a mess?"

"Now this is my fault? She doesn't have a bottle, or sippy-cup, or whatever little kids drink from! I was trying to give her something to drink, next time I'll let her get dehydrated!"

El-Jay's screams added to the din. "For God's sake!" Yumi yelled. "At least change her outfit! You guys are going to emotionally scar her for life!"

Aelita rounded on Yumi. "What, so now you're coming down here to insult our care taking abilities? You didn't stay up half the night looking after her, don't give me **that **Yumi! You haven't done anything!"

Yumi's eyes widened. "What? I only kidnapped her! I took head of this crazy thing! I made sure that everything she needed was taken care of!"

Jeremie's eyes narrowed. "That's why she doesn't have anything to drink from, right?"

El-Jay let out a loud scream, drawing attention to herself.

Aelita took a deep breath, shaking herself. "Jeremie, you go eat. You didn't eat at all yesterday, and you didn't sleep at all last night, you need to restore your energy."

Jeremie pressed his lips together to argue, but instead nodded, and left.

"Yumi, I'm sorry. I'm a little on edge. I'm tired. I've gotta buy El-Jay a sippy-cup, and I need her dressed."

Yumi nodded. "I can help."

The two girls quickly got El-Jay out of her sodden clothes, and, after drying her off, got dry clothes on her.

Yumi checked her phone. "I gotta head out, I'm already gonna be late." She handed Aelita a bag. "In here's your breakfast."

Aelita accepted the bag. "Once things settle down, we'll see if I can get some time to get to the school for breakfast. Thanks."

Yumi smiled. "I don't mind, Aelita. My food's not rationed like dorm students are."

Aelita nodded, as Yumi headed out. El-Jay was marginally happier than before, but she was acting hyper, so Aelita grabbed the bag in one hand and El-Jay's hand in the other, her purse slung over her shoulder.

The two headed out. Aelita smiled, taking a deep breath of fresh air. "Hey, El-Jay, I'm sorry about this morning. Jeremie and I aren't used to this, but I promise, we'll give you the best we can. Promise."

El-Jay gripped Aelita's hand tightly as they slowly walked down the street, toward the convenience store.

By the time they had gotten in and bought El-Jay a cup, (one of her choosing, with smiling frogs on it), and gotten El-Jay a drink that she _couldn't _pour over her head, it was almost time for second period.

Aelita had only been able to grab a few bites of food, but it had been nice just going on a walk with El-Jay. And, fortunately, she didn't get any strange questions from the guy at the store, who didn't even glance at them as she he rang out their purchase.

"Come on, El-Jay, let's head back to Kadic." She quickly texted Odd to meet up with them outside the school.

Aelita was late heading back, because El-Jay walked so slow, so Aelita had ended up picking up the two-year-old, who protested at being held in such an uncomfortable and shaky grip.

"Sorry, El-Jay, but you're heavy!"

Odd looked up glumly when the two walked over.

Aelita scowled at him. "Look at it this way, Odd. You have no school! Just go out and have fun with her! Go to the park, or something!"

Odd sighed. "I don't like wasting my break babysitting."

Aelita put her hands on her hips. "How about this. You get my breakfast at Kadic, and anything I don't finish." Aelita handed out the bag of her half-eaten meal.

Odd's eyes lit up. "Aw, thanks, princess!" He grabbed the bag, and Aelita put El-Jay down, and bolted for class.

Odd grinned. "Okay, princess!" he said to El-Jay. "Let's take Aelita's advice and go to the park!"

El-Jay looked up at him solemnly. "Okay!" She piped up.

Odd frowned. "You heard me?"

"Yup!" she said back, smiling at the shocked look on his face.

Odd grinned. "Okay then!" He went to pick her up, but she darted out of his grasp.

"No!" she giggled, running.

Odd ran after her, roaring. "I'm gonna get you!" He yelled.

"Nope!" she laughed, running along.

Odd finally caught up with her, and guided her to the park.

Once they got there, El-Jay shot off, running across the park. Odd ran after her, calling, "I'm gonna catch you!"

The two seemed to have boundless energy as they ran around the park. El-Jay never seemed to tire of having Odd chase her, and Odd loved the little excited squeals that she shrieked when he caught her.

_This, _he thought, _is the fun part of hanging with El-Jay._

If only this was what being in charge of El-Jay would always entail.

After a while, he got a call from Yumi.

"Hey," Yumi said, "where are you? You're not at the factory, and you've only got ten minutes to get to class."

"We're at the park, didn't Aelita tell you we were gonna go there?"

"I'm on my way. And, no she didn't tell me. I'll be there in about five minutes. Stay there."

"Why? I need to get to Kadic!"

"You can't leave El-Jay there on her own."

Odd frowned, sighing, "Oh, right. Dang."

"I'm getting there as soon as possible."

It seemed like forever for Yumi to get there. Odd had a test in science, at his grades were already failing. If he didn't get there on time, he wouldn't be able to sit next to Jeremie or Aelita, and then he'd fail for sure.

El-Jay frowned, walking up to Odd. "Chase me," she demanded.

"No," Odd said, "we gotta wait for Yumi."

"Umi?" El-Jay asked.

"Yeah," he said, smiling slightly. "Umi."

Soon Yumi arrived, panting slightly, on her skateboard. "Here," she panted. "Take this, get back."

Odd bolted, throwing his skateboard down, and motoring off.

"Bye Odd," El-Jay said, waving. She looked up at Yumi. "Umi," she stated, "chase me."

By the end of the period, El-Jay was exhausted. "Firsty, Umi! Firsty!" She stomped her foot, angrily.

Yumi sighed, tiredly. "You're thirsty?"

"Mmm hmm," she whined, pulling on Yumi's shirt.

Yumi sighed. "Right, right, give me a minute." She pulled the two-year-old over to a water fountain, and filled up her cup.

"Here you go, your little highness," she said, giving the cup to El-Jay.

The two walked back to the school, swinging hands.

She met up with her friends in a small clearing in the forest just outside the school grounds.

The others brought food, and Jeremie gave his lunch to El-Jay.

"Sorry," Aelita said. "I should have packed something for El-Jay's lunch."

Jeremie shrugged, typing on his laptop. "It's fine. I usually give my lunch to Odd, anyway. How was she this morning?" He asked the others.

Odd, Yumi, and Aelita detailed their morning to the others.

Ulrich frowned. "Well, she looks exhausted now," he said.

Jeremie nodded. "Do you think we should give her a nap or something?"

"Probably," Yumi said, shrugging. "I think my parents made my little brother take a nap until he was five. So it's probably safe to say she should have one. And she certainly seems tired…"

Odd yawned. "Well, she sure wore me out. Looks like you're gonna luck out, Ulrich buddy. You'll get her asleep."

Jeremie nodded. "You'll get a chance to get started on your homework. Mrs. Hertz assigned quite a lot of work. And you have a history essay due tomorrow that I _know _you haven't started."

Ulrich winced. "How do you manage when you've got Lyoko and X.A.N.A. to deal with."

Jeremie gave a tired smile. "I manage. Homework only takes about an hour and a half, tops."

Odd groaned. "How're you gonna survive with a toddler to help look after."

Jeremie's face drooped, as he turned back to his laptop. "I don't know. I guess I'll just have to, right?"

El-Jay yawned, loudly. Ulrich stood up. "I think I'll bring our little girl to the factory. She can nap there. And I'll-"

"-get your homework done," Aelita cut in. "You have to be a good example for El-Jay."

Ulrich frowned, horrified. "You're kidding, right? She's two. She doesn't know what's going on."

Odd frowned. "Well, she does know a little of what we're saying. I mean she responds. But Ulrich's right, El-Jay doesn't know what we're doing."

Aelita put her hands on her hips. "Absolutely not boys." She turned to Jeremie. "Back me up here!"

Jeremie glanced up from his laptop. "Yeah. Aelita's right," he said vaguely.

Aelita nodded.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We have work to get to, and you'd better get El-Jay to bed. She looks about ready to keel over."

Ulrich nodded, and grabbed El-Jay's hand as the two slowly headed to the factory, but halfway there, El-Jay started walking so slowly, that Ulrich picked her up finished the trip.

When he got there, he put the two-year-old to bed, and started to work on his paper.

He got a phone call a while later. It was Jeremie.

"Hey, Einstein," he said, "is it time for gym?"

"Yeah. I think I'm gonna bail on gym today. I'm too tired to run around today."

"'Kay. I'll head out to the Gym. El-Jay's asleep, she can stay here on her own for a few minutes."

"Sure, I'll be there in a few minutes," Jeremie said, tiredly.

Ulrich hung up, and headed out on his skateboard, arriving at the school a minute later.

About twenty minutes later, a tired Jeremie trudged into the factory. His scooter had lost a wheel, and he had to walk.

He came in to here crying.

Frowning, he hurried over to El-Jay's room.

The toddler had rolled out of her bed, and had hit her head on the hard factory floor.

"El-Jay!" He rushed over, pulling her up into her bed.

"Are you alright?" He checked her over while she wailed.

"Mommy! Mommy!" She sobbed.

"No, no, no," Jeremie crooned, making sure that she wasn't hurt.

He checked the guardrail, which had given out, due to it not being on right.

Jeremie bit his lip. El-Jay was alright, but what if she hadn't been? Who knows how long she had been there? Crying? Hurt?

Jeremie jiggled her on his lap until she quieted down.

He headed to the supercomputer, after securing her guardrails, to make sure that she wouldn't fall, and started his work.

Then El-Jay started crying again, and after ten minutes of trying to get her asleep, he realized it was pointless.

So he took the rambunctious toddler on a walk.

She ran circles around the tired teen, who it took all his energy just to avoid her running into the street.

He finally got a text from Aelita asking where he was.

_**I'm taking El-Jay on a walk, **_he texted.

_**Come 2 the factory, **_she texted back.

"Come on, El-Jay," Jeremie sighed.

She frowned, and grabbed his hand. "You said?" She asked, staring up at him from behind big solemn brown eyes.

He smiled back at her, from his big tired blue eyes. "Yeah, El-Jay. I'm tired."

Soon the two were at the factory.

Jeremie handed El-Jay over to Aelita, before turning to Ulrich. "You didn't put her guardrails back on right. She fell out of bed," he snapped.

Ulrich frowned. "She was out like a log! You should have heard her if she woke up!"

"She had fallen out by the time I got there!"

Ulrich frowned. "How long did it take you to get there?"

Aelita frowned. "Ulrich, you're not supposed to leave until Jeremie got there!"

"Jeremie was on his way! It shouldn't have taken more than a minute to get here!"

"My scooter's broken! I'm tired! I'm sorry!"

"Ulrich," Yumi said ,"you can't leave until Jeremie gets here. Jeremie, why didn't you take Aelita's scooter?"

Jeremie paused. "I-I didn't think about th-that," he stammered. "My mind was busy on Lyoko."

Aelita scowled. "If it's your turn to take care of El-Jay, you've gotta do that!"

Jeremie stop up, frowning. "I don't have bloody time for this! I can't balance taking care of a child with school and **still **manage to** save the world **on a daily basis! I put every second of my life into stopping X.A.N.A.! I don't sleep, because I can't **waste **eight hours sleeping! I can't **waste **my time taking care of some child because Yumi wasn't fast enough to stop her from being virtualized! Or because you guys were too slow to deactivate the tower!" He took a deep breath, before looking down. "No, wait, I didn't mean that," he said quickly. "It wasn't your fault, it was mine. This whole thing is my fault. I'm the one who should have been able to defeat X.A.N.A. a long time ago. I'm sorry." He hung his head for a moment.

Aelita blinked, alarmed at the sudden outburst. "Maybe you should go get some rest," she suggested, gently. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

_A good night's sleep? _Jeremie wondered. _Or any night's sleep. _He worked on a smiled. "Yesterday night." Lie. "And I think I will go get some sleep." Lie. "I'll take a break from Lyoko tonight." Lie.

Aelita smiled. "Alright. I'm sorry, I don't think any of us know what we're doing."

Jeremie headed off.

"It doesn't matter, though," said Yumi, thinking. "I had just thought of something. Even if we had succeeded in stopping El-Jay from tracking us down, every time we ran a return trip. Think about it. And she'd certainly remember this place, eventually."

Aelita nodded. "So now what? We have the whole afternoon…"

Odd groaned. "Oh man, we do. And all I wanna do is sleep."

"Well, I gotta fix up her room. The door to the rest of the factory still needs to be completely jammed."

"I'll stay with El-Jay," Aelita offered.

Odd groaned. "I have homework, guys."

Yumi glanced at him. "That's fine, Odd. You take a break. Do your homework, or whatever it is you do. I'm gonna take all of El-Jay's dirty clothes and dishes to my house, and clean them."

.

By that evening, the Lyoko Warriors regrouped in the factory. Aelita offered to stay the evening, so Yumi brought her a sleeping bag from her house.

"El-Jay's not gonna keep you up all night, you need to sleep."

Jeremie was also gonna stay and work.

Ulrich and Odd headed to the factory, though Ulrich told Aelita if either of them needed a break, to give him a ring.

Yumi seconded this.

As they headed out, Aelita started getting El-Jay ready for bed. They were gonna eventually need to make some kinda wall, separating El-Jay's room from the lab, but for now, they only had a gate, making sure El-Jay wouldn't fall.

"Good night, El-Jay," Aelita said, after dressing the two-year-old, brushing her teeth, and tucking her in.

"Ni' Lee-la," El-Jay yawned.

Aelita pulled her sleeping bag next to El-Jay, and the two exhausted girls soon fell asleep.

.

**So, hey! Long time no see! Sorry this took so long, I've been busy :P**

**Anyways, don't worry, I'm not gonna do a day-by-day story, that would get boring. But I still needed to establish some of the problems, so I hope I'm doing that realistically. Please review, it'd mean the world to me!**


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